Unmasked
by TearsOfPaper
Summary: One shot of A Cinderella Story: Once Upon A Song. Slight AU where Luke discovered Katie's secret before the showcase.


Katie sat on the bench arm staring at Luke.

"Okay, you are blowing my mind." His eyes widened. "You have to show me who you are."

Sighing, Katie figured it was time to show him who she was. Reaching up, she was about to pull off her veil when Angela ran up. As the news was broken to Katie, she gasped and apologized. Having to leave without sharing her identity was hard enough, but the devastating news when she arrived home felt like the final nail in her coffin.

The next day at school was terrible. Luke walked into the recording studio the second that Bev started her lip syncing practice. Then, after thinking that Bev had written the song from the night before, he had asked her out right in front of Katie. Katie wanted to scream or cry or both, but she held her emotions in check until she had helped Bev through the date that night. She cried herself to sleep that night.

"Don't break my heart," she kept muttering until the dark consumed her.

The next day Katie threw herself into the chores her stepmother assigned trying desperately to push Luke or of her mind. Unfortunately, the man in question showed up at her house that day to write a song with Bev. After being forced to help her stepsister pursue the guy they were big interested in, Katie had another meeting with her stepmother that pushed the poor girl over the edge. She cried herself to sleep that night too.

School was the only place that Katie could be herself, and that was only in private. She ducked into a practice room with her Gallagher and began to pick at its strings. The song Luke had written with her lyrics consumed her mind and echoed through her guitar strings.

"Don't break my heart before I give it to you," she sang. "Don't tell me no before I ask you to. Don't say it doesn't fit before you try it on. There's too much to lose to be wrong. And it feels like there's something here, but I want to see it before it disappears. And if there's something real between me and you. Well are we both open to all these possibilities. So many little possibilities."

Setting aside her guitar, Katie looked up at the ceiling. So much had gone wrong, how was she ever supposed to manage this?

"Good job, Katie," she muttered to herself. "You've gone and gotten your heart broken by a guy who barely knows you exist. And the part about you he loves he thinks is someone else." She snorted. "He thinks it's your stepsister of all people. You can't even successfully avoid him."

"Do you want to avoid him?" A voice asked from the doorway.

Katie turned to see Luke standing there. "How long have you been there? What did you hear? Oh who cares, if you heard anything, you heard too much. If you care one iota about my future you will forget this ever happened."

Luke tilted his head. "Why would I forget this? You're the girl who sang to me at the dance, aren't you?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." Katie held her hands up in protest. "This cannot be happening. I'm dreaming. My future is still safe. There is no way this is real."

"What's wrong with this being real?"

"If I don't sing for Bev, Gail will take away the savings account my father left me and will ruin my chance at getting into the performing arts college I want. And worse than that, Angela's future will be demolished." Katie buried her face in her hands. "The showcase is tomorrow, and if I don't make Bev look good, I am dead, as are Ang's dreams."

Luke nodded. "Dress up nice for the showcase tomorrow."

"What?" Katie blinked.

"Do you have a problem doing what a dream tells you to do?" Luke smirked.

Katie shook her head, mouth opened slightly. His smirk growing wider, Luke waved and left. Katie wandered out of the practice room in a daze. What had just happened?

She continued to move about in a daze until the start of the showcase the next day. For whatever reason she decided to do what her dream of Luke had asked. As Bev's turn approached, Katie felt her heart pounding. Searching for her phone only caused her panic to grow as she realized she had left it back at the house. Gail saw the panic on Katie's face and grabbed a handheld mic.

"We can do it live," Gail snarled. "I hope you're warmed up."

Sighing, Katie took the mic and started to sing from behind the curtain. She was too focused on making sure Bev was doing alright to notice that Luke had come up behind her with a rolling camera. As Bev turned to the audience, Katie turned her back to the curtain separating her from the stage. The less she could remember where she was and why she was singing, the better. Luke caught Katie's eye as she turned and gave her a thumbs up from behind the camera.

"Glad you listened to my advice," he mouthed, gesturing at her attire.

Angela pushed Katie through the curtain onto the stage for the rising star's first live performance. After the second song, Katie threw her arms around Luke and kissed him.

He laughed. "Did you have a dream or something that inspired you tonight?"

"I don't think it was a dream, do you?"

Luke just shook his head. "And to think all of this could've been avoided if you had just taken your veil off sooner."

"But it all worked out, didn't it." Katie smirked.

"That it did, Katie. That it did."


End file.
